


Love is All About Timing

by chennieforyourthoughts



Series: Highlight [3]
Category: K-pop, Monsta X (Band), No.MERCY (TV)
Genre: But the real question is.... does Mark even know how to sail?, Changkyun really doesn't mean to be scary, Getting Together, Happy Birthday Jooheonnie, Jooheon is too timid for his own good, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-07
Updated: 2017-10-07
Packaged: 2019-01-10 01:50:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,205
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12288687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chennieforyourthoughts/pseuds/chennieforyourthoughts
Summary: Jooheon's hyungs give him a (as they insist) prank gift for his birthday, and they hand Changkyun the key.





	Love is All About Timing

**Author's Note:**

> Title from ["Difficult" by ONF!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRSljgGeT10) Go check it out, they're such a good group. ~~And they need more fics.~~ I'll be getting on that shortly.
> 
> [(Fanfic Disclaimer + More ♥)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/chen_CHING/profile)

Jooheon probably should have noticed something was wrong when barely a minute after Kihyun had shaken him awake with a quiet, “Morning, Jooheonnie! Happy birthday,” Minhyuk came sprinting back into the room, shouting at the top of his lungs about being the “designated driver.”

Jooheon groaned at the noise but giggled as Changkyun, who was occupying the bunk below him, hit his head when he sat up. _“Minhyuk,”_ Kihyun began, and the culprit had the presence of mind to scramble back towards the hallway.

“Come on,” Jooheon said as he climbed down the ladder and touched down on the wooden floorboards. “I can smell Kihyun hyung’s cooking from here.” Changkyun removed his palm from where it was digging into the side of his skull.

“Alright,” he agreed, before suddenly breaking into a wide smile. “Happy birthday, hyung!” Jooheon wasn’t exactly sure where the sudden burst of excitement on the maknae’s part came from, but he wasn’t complaining. At least excited Changkyun was still not nearly as loud as regular Minhyuk, let alone Minhyuk with some sort of added energy. And Birthday Minhyuk™ was another beast entirely.

Kihyun had really outdone himself this time. He’d recruited Hyunwoo to help him cook— under _strict_ guidance— and both of the newcomers could smell the delicious breakfast he was making from inside their room. “Hyungwon and Hoseok are out shopping,” Kihyun informed them after a quick glance over his shoulder to see who it was.

“What are they getting?” Changkyun asked, leaning against one of the counters. Jooheon pulled himself up a seat.

 _"That’s_ a surprise,” Hyunwoo announced, washing his hands in the sink before heading over to them.

“Oh,” Changkyun said. It was round, the word imitating the shape his lips took to make it, and Jooheon was once again hit with a feeling of wrong-ness. Although that could have been from the directions his mind was going in.

The front door banged open and in stumbled the aforementioned duo, arms laden with neatly-wrapped packages. “We come bearing gifts.” Hoseok dropped— well, set down heavily— the packages on the table in front of Jooheon. “The ones marked with _M_ s are from the fans— management has to check them before we can handle them, as they’re wrapped packages and all, so you’ll be getting some belated birthday presents. The others are from us.”

“Happy birthday,” Hyungwon said, giving Jooheon’s hair an affectionate ruffle.

“You have dinner reservations tonight!” Hoseok interrupted the moment by attempting to show Jooheon something on his phone screen.

“Hoseok hyung, I’m sorry but I can’t read that.”

“Aw,” Minhyuk cooed, having appeared out of seemingly thin air, “Jooheon-ah doesn’t have his glasses!”

Jooheon muttered something and Kihyun was quickly there to hit his shoulder and remind him to respect his hyungs. “I can read the cards to you, hyung,” Changkyun offered, and Jooheon thanked him for sparing him the much-too-long walk back their room in search of his glasses.

Changkyun reached for the first gift in the pile— one Hyungwon had been carrying— and pulled the card off it. “This one’s from the hyungs,” he read. _“To Jooheonnie— Happy birthday to our favorite of the maknae line_!” Changkyun stopped and pulled the paper closer to his face, wondering if he had read that right. Behind him, Hoseok and Minhyuk had fallen into evil-filled giggles. _“Sorry Changkyun,”_ the maknae continued, a mask of fake insult plastered over his features. Jooheon tried to stifle his amused laughter but mostly failed. _“But you’ll be thanking us later.”_

Minhyuk could no longer control his giggles and burst into full-on laughter. “Changkyun, your _face!”_ Changkyun ignored how all the blood had rushed to his cheeks and handed the present off to Jooheon to be dealt with by its intended audience.

Jooheon pulled off the rich blue wrapping paper and came face to face with a…. black velvet box. His brow creased, but he continued to open the gift. Swallowing his nerves (and likely what was going to be left of his pride, as Jooheon was becoming more and more sure that this was Hoseok’s idea), he pulled open the lid.

Inside laid a white leather choker.

 _It isn’t…. incredibly intimidating,_ Jooheon’s inner voice whispered, but it matched how timid he was currently feeling.

“What the heck?” Kihyun began scolding Changkyun for language, but Jooheon still couldn’t look away from the simple leather and glinting buckles. “I didn’t think you guys were _actually_ going to do it?”

“Hoseok grabbed onto Hyunwoo hyung’s idea so fast there was no ever letting go,” Hyungwon sighed, but he had a rather evil glint in his eye as well.

“Look, Changkyun, we even got you the key!” Minhyuk reached into the velvet box and lifted the small piece of metal. It reflected the light coming in from the opened windows as he dropped it into Changkyun’s palm.

The maknae turned bright red, but Jooheon’s mind was too blank for him to even notice Changkyun’s suffering.

“Go on, put it on!” None other than Kihyun urged, nudging Changkyun to get him in motion. Jooheon finally looked up, and as soon as he did the energy at the table disappeared.

“Jooheon-ah,” Hyungwoo spoke up. “You don’t have to do it. This was my idea, and I apologize for making you uncomfortable.”

Jooheon swallowed hard again, took a survey of the faces around the table, and glanced down at the choker again. He picked it up and marveled at how substantial it felt. “No, I want to.”

Minhyuk, who had preparing to make a joke, ended up sputtering instead. “Jooheon, you just broke Minhyuk hyung,” Hoseok teased. “Good job!”

“Alright, then. Changkyun, you know what to do,” Hyunwoo said, wiggling an eyebrow. Jooheon did his best to ignore him as he set the choker back into its box and followed Changkyun to their room.

Changkyun was careful to close to door and lock it behind them, but Minhyuk began pounding on it anyways. Jooheon set the velvet box on the nightstand and took the choker out once more.

“Are you sure?”

“Just put it on, Changkyun-ah, before I change my mind.” The banging from outside had stopped; Jooheon was sure it was due to the fact that the rest of the group was listening in on their conversation. Jooheon unbuckled the back of the choker and held it against his neck.

“Or lose your nerve.” Changkyun stepped around behind him and took ahold of the leather straps, instructing Jooheon to duck his head so it was easier for him to buckle.

Jooheon fought against the nervous urge to swallow as he felt the choker tighten. Changkyun worked swiftly, long fingers securing it around Jooheon’s neck before he had the chance to worry. Once it was done, Changkyun stepped back around to face him. He held up the key and watched as Jooheon’s eyes widened and his mouth dropped open in his usual expression of surprise.

Changkyun pulled a slip of paper from somewhere ( _Where did the kid get it? From thin air? Jooheon barely had time to notice._ ), depositing it into the locket on the front of the choker and locking it up before Jooheon could blink.

“Can I see what that says?” He asked.

If he hadn’t know better, he would have said Changkyun smirked at that. “After your dinner,” the younger said, adjusting how the choker lay before unlocking the door and slipping outside, leaving Jooheon standing alone and rather confusedly in their bedroom.

It was during lunch with Hyunwoo and Hoseok that more about the dinner plans was revealed to Jooheon. “Leave the building and turn to the left. Walk three blocks, then turn to the left and walk for another block. It will be the first restaurant on your left.”

When Jooheon opened the door of the nicest French restaurant in town, the staff was already expecting him. They quickly (and quietly, much to his relief) directed him to a table towards the back.

There were already two people seated at it, directly across from each other. They appeared to be having a quiet yet animated discussion. A seat was unoccupied between them— Jooheon assumed that one was for him. Given the dim lighting of the restaurant, he couldn’t tell whom it was until he standing right in front of them.

Seated at the table were Song Gunhee and Park Minkyun, smiles as wide and welcoming as he had remembered them.

Conversation came easily to the trio as they worked their way through the courses. Besides a moment at the beginning when Jooheon most _definitely_ did not start tearing up, the reunion was as light-hearted as any reunion between the three was bound to be. Unfortunately, it ended too soon.

“I was told to tell you to head to the Port. 21:00 sharp, and don’t be late,” Minkyun leaned in to whisper to Jooheon, mischief dancing in his eyes.

At the port, Jooheon couldn’t see anything unusual but still felt the same sense of unease that he had felt in the morning. At the very end of one of the docks, a dark sailboat floated. But as soon as he stepped foot onto the dock, it lit up bright.

Jooheon screamed.

Later, once the initial surprise had passed, he’d find out that it was supposed to be _romantic._

It was not.

It was terrifying.

It took a good quarter of an hour for Jooheon to be found again. He was crouching underneath a length of rope on one of the other docks, and as soon as he saw a dark form leaning over him he knew that it was the end. He was going to be murdered by some crazy stalker, on his 23rd birthday, never to return back to the Starship dorms. But more than that, Jooheon was filled with sorrow that Minkyun— pure, sweet Minkyun— was likely the next one on the stalker’s hit list, now that he’d served his purpose.

And then the stalker pulled back the rope and Jooheon was sure his eyes were about to pop out of his skull.

It was Changkyun. And he was crying.

“Hyung, are you alright? I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to spook you.” Jooheon was quick to scramble from the rest of the rope. He reached out and pulled the maknae into him, thankful for the tiny height advantage he had because it made it easier for Changkyun to bury his head in Jooheon’s shoulder.

“It’s okay, Changkyun. I’m sorry for being so timid all the time.” He rubbed soft circles into Changkyun’s upper back, trying to keep his own breathing under control.

“I’m sorry hyung, this wasn’t how I wanted things to go at all.”

Jooheon lifted Changkyun’s chin so they were at the same height again and could hold more of a conversation. “What did you have in mind, then?”

He would have spooked backwards again had Changkyun not grabbed ahold of the back of his choker before kissing him. Half of Jooheon, the flighty part, screamed with surprise, but the other half screamed _finally._ Changkyun seemed a little surprised when Jooheon kissed him back, having likely intended for it to be a one-time thing, but didn’t pull away.

A sudden wolf whistle separated the two. Right off the dock floated the sailboat, captained by one Mark Lee. “Get it, Changkyun hyung!” He cheered, and both Jooheon and Changkyun laughed at his antics.

“Come on, hyung,” Changkyun invited, letting go of Jooheon’s choker and jumping from the dock to the boat. It rocked when he landed, and the rational part of Jooheon’s brain shouted at him to not follow suit. But there was his internal voice, not timid for once, reminding him how nice Changkyun looked sprawled on the cushions— _cushions,_ for goodness’s sake— on a sailboat decked out in _fairy lights._ (It also didn’t fail to remind him how ridiculous the whole thing was, and Jooheon made his decision.)

Hyunwoo later drove up to the docks in one of the company vans to find a crying maknae and a soaked rapper. Kihyun leapt out of the van, ready to get to damage control and help to the best of his abilities as soon as his feet touched the ground. “He fell in the river!” Changkyun exclaimed, pointing at Jooheon. It was then that the five in the van realized that Changkyun was crying because he was laughing too hard, not because something horrible had happened to Jooheon.

“They were reenacting _The Titanic,_ of course,” Mark supplied, digging out his phone to show proof to a crowing Hoseok and Minhyuk.

“I need a drink,” Kihyun rather uncharacteristically muttered.

“Me too,” Hyunwoo agreed, and they retreated to the backseat of the van as Mihyuk jumped into the driver’s seat, once again screaming about being the designated driver.

Of course, Mark showed the video he took to Taeyong, and the next morning both groups plus Minkyun and Gunhee awoke to find #raplinetitanic trending on four different social media platforms.

Jooheon, quite honestly, didn’t care and simply snuggled back into Changkyun’s warmth when Kihyun tried to wake the two of them.

“By the way, the fans sent you a matching black choker for Changkyun and two sets of kitty ears.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hyunwoo officially becomes the "gift picker" of the group, Hoseok becomes the "reservations" guy, and Minkyun wins the bet between all of Monsta X, NCT, ONF, and Gunhee as to the exact time Jookyun becomes a reality.
> 
> [Here are the chokers.](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/e0/3b/a0/e03ba00071ef435a72c3ab72a67e23f8.jpg) Jooheon has the white one, and Changkyun ends up having the black one.


End file.
